Across the nation.

Hussein Opponents Hear Gore Pep Talk

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vice President Al Gore told Iraqi opposition leaders Monday that Saddam Hussein stands in the way of Middle East peace and "must be removed from power."

"I believe that there can be no peace for the Iraqi people and a genuine peace for the people of the Middle East so long as Saddam is in a position to brutalize his people and threaten his neighbors," Gore told representatives of forces trying to topple the Iraqi president.

Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, was among the nine Iraqi opposition figures seated with Gore around a circular conference table at the State Department. Other groups represented at the meeting, open to reporters only for a quick photo and the vice president's introductory remarks, included the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Constitutional Monarchist Movement.

Meanwhile, a senior State Department official said the United States will train up to 145 members of the Iraqi opposition-in-exile in such skills as field medicine, logistics, computers, communications, broadcasting and power generation.

But Washington will not train the opposition to fight the Iraqi army, the official added.